“She told me I needed to come to Jesus. So I did. And he changed my life.”

“My friend told me to come with her to church. So I did. Jesus gave me a new life.”

I tend to complicate things. Often, when it comes to techy tasks on my iPhone or computer, my husband or son will interrupt me and say, “You know, if you just…you can accomplish the same task without the hassle.”

I complicate and over think things in many areas of my life.

But after spending a couple of weeks in Madagascar with a group of Christian Malagasy women, I’m beginning to realize that there are things I believed had complicated processes and solutions that now I realize should not be so complicated—I simply made them complicated.

For five days, morning and afternoon, I taught a group of Malagasy women how to use the Bible to counsel themselves and others through difficult situations. I spent a day laying a theological framework for who God is, a day laying a theological framework for what it means to be human—and specifically a woman, a day looking at what causes life’s difficulties and some of the necessary provisions from God that help us through life’s difficulties, a day on how to respond Christianly to life’s difficulties, and, finally, a day discussing specific counseling issues.

I would teach for about 45 minutes, then provided the ladies opportunities to discuss and apply what I taught to real life situations. Once they had time to discuss, they were supposed to choose a representative to stand and share the counseling implications with the group.

But to my surprise the group share time became a testimony time.

As the women began sharing to the larger group, I realized that rather than giving a fictitious example of how they could apply the scripture to a counseling situation, the women were sharing how they personally experienced God’s attributes of being omnipresent or loving or their redeemer.

One woman shared that she had been full of shame, but her friend told her to come to Jesus, and he had taken away her shame.

Another woman’s story was that she had been demon possessed, her hands and legs were numb, and her husband was a drunk. Her friend told her she needed to come to Jesus. She said No. Again, her friend continued to tell her she needed to come to church and find Jesus. She finally did. Jesus freed her, healed her, and healed her family. The last Sunday I was in Madagascar I got to see her, her husband, and her family worshiping in church together.

One young woman’s testimony was that she met and married a man, got pregnant, only to find out he was already married with a family. He left her. In her shame and sorrow, she came to Jesus. He took her shame and healed her. As she continued to trust him, she prayed for God to provide her a godly husband. She shared with the group that God answered her prayers, and she is now married to a loving husband.

Another woman was a drunk who thought that she just needed money. Money would solve her problems, but she was so depressed she drank. Then she began to sell the family’s belongings to get money to spend on alcohol. But a friend asked her what she was doing and told her she needed to come to Jesus. She said No. But her friend persisted. She finally went to church with her friend and Jesus changed her life. She shared that she has hope now. She told the group that money wasn’t the answer to her problems. Jesus was the answer.

Story after story. Testimony after testimony. Their need drove them to the Solution that didn’t make sense to them. Their need drove them to Jesus. But then Jesus’ presence in their lives changed everything.

It was so simple. It was honestly mind-blowing and strengthened my faith as I listened to their stories each day.

So I want to share some of my take-aways from my time with these wonderful women.

1. Let your need drive you to Jesus. Come to him.

Most of the women I met had a physical, emotional, or relational need. Some tried to solve their problems in different ways. But they came to the end of their attempts with nothing. Then a friend came along and told them they needed to come to Jesus for the solution to their problem. Their need pushed them to Jesus. And that’s when everything changed.

There are several situations in Luke 5 in which people’s physical needs push them or their friends to seek Jesus for a solution. In one case Jesus simply offers the solution without being sought.

Luke 5:1-11 Peter, James, and John had been fishing all night and caught nothing. Jesus borrows their boat to use as a speaking platform, teaches the crowds, and then when he finished, Jesus tells them to put their nets into the water. Reluctantly, they obeyed, and they nets were filled with fish. In amazement and worship, Peter responded, “Go away from me because I am a sinful man, Lord?” Jesus asked them to follow him and they do.

Further into Luke 5 a man with leprosy comes to Jesus for healing and Jesus does it.

And then we get to Luke 5:17-26 where a group of determined friends bring their friend to Jesus because he has a need—he is paralyzed. He can’t get himself to Jesus. His friends bring him.

Coming to Jesus means humbling yourself and confessing you are not enough, but Jesus is.

It means you realize that you need Jesus to take over your life, not simply be part of the solution to your problems.

Coming to Jesus could look like physically going to church and speaking to a minister or going to a Christian friend and telling them you need Jesus.

Or it could look like you kneeling down where you are to pray, asking Jesus to come to you in your need.

Come to Jesus.

2. Don’t make it complicated.

As I listened to the Malagasy women share, one of the things that surprised me the most was how uncomplicated they made things. They didn’t give excuses. They didn’t overthink the need or the solution.

Often you and I complicate life and the solutions with excuses and long routed journeys.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

The solution could be as simple as doing what Jesus has said in the Bible to do.

The solution could be as easy as coming to Jesus in prayer, in surrender to his will and way for your life.

To some it may sound scary, too costly. The excuses take over and nothing changes.

To some it may sound ineffective, too simple. No attempt is made and nothing changes.

But I heard story after story of women who simply confessed their needs for Jesus and their lives changed as they trusted and obeyed his Word.

In Luke 5:5 Peter does what Jesus told him to do. He was reluctant, but he obeyed.

In Luke 5:12 the man with leprosy had doubts that Jesus would even be willing, but he took a chance, went to Jesus, and confessed, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus was willing.

In Luke 5:18-19 friends brought their friend to Jesus; they ran into some complications—the place was crowded, so they took off the person’s roof. That probably cost them time and money to repair, but it was worth it.

Many of us have already trusted Jesus to do the most difficult thing—to forgive our sins and to rescue us from an eternity in hell. So why don’t we believe he can help us financially, heal our broken relationships, or turn our mourning into dancing?

This is the One who spoke to a storm and calmed it (Mark 4:37-41).

This is the One who put crazy amounts of fish into the nets of experienced fishermen who hadn’t caught a thing all night (Luke 5:4-11).

This is the One who died on a cross as payment for your sins (Romans 5:8).

This is the One who rose back to life three days later, proving he was God by disarming Satan by defeating death’s power. (2 Timothy 1:10, 1 Corinthians 15:1-8, 22, 54-57)

Come to Jesus.

3. Jesus is the solution to all our needs.

But you may think, “how can coming to Jesus, which we would consider is a spiritual act, change my physical situation?”

I firmly believe that each of us is an embodied soul, a whole person. We shouldn’t divide ourselves into unrelated physical, emotional, spiritual, mental sections. Each affects the others. The result is that many emotional problems, relational problems, and even physical problems often have spiritual solutions.

Luke 5:17-26 details the story of a paralyzed man declared forgiven by Jesus. Jesus meets the man’s spiritual need, which is the greater need, but less obvious to people. The religious leaders question Jesus’ right and ability to forgive sins. “Who can forgive sins but God?!” True statement, religious leaders. That’s your clue.

Jesus responds, “Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” he told the paralyzed man, “I tell you: Get up, take your stretcher, and go home.”

Jesus shows himself as God, the one who has the power over the spiritual realm and the physical realm, by healing the man both spiritually and physically. The result was that people glorified God.

What about you? Why don’t you come to Jesus with your needs, all of them?

What if your greatest need is your spiritual condition, but you stay so focused on your physical needs that you are no better off than the paralyzed man stuck on his mat?

Come to Jesus.

4. Friendship is a catalyst God can use to bring people to Jesus.

The testimonies from the women in Madagascar consistently contained a friend who did the uncomfortable work of confronting them with their need for Jesus.

In the story of the paralyzed man from Luke 5, the paralyzed man has a few friends who know that Jesus is who their friend needs. The friends take action, literally bringing their friend on his mat to Jesus. Jesus sees the friends’ faith and goes to work meeting the paralyzed man’s needs.

I don’t know all the theological implications of this interesting chunk of scripture, but I do know that God changed this man’s life because friends positioned him to meet Jesus. And that’s all I need to know.

God puts people in your life and in my life who need to know that Jesus can meet their needs. And we just need to be faithful to tell them, “You need to come to Jesus.”

Who are the people in your life who need to hear you say, “Come to Jesus”?

I think I may have come away more changed than the women I went to minister to in Madagascar. I hope my take-aways will benefit you as well.

I need the simplicity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I need the all-encompassing power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I need to be a good friend and invite you to come to Jesus.

His presence changes everything.

Come to Jesus.